2018 Poetry Marathon At Woodland Pattern

Starting at 10:00 AM on Saturday,January 27th hundreds of poets, writers and lovers of the arts will set up camp at Woodland Pattern Book Center. Fifteen hours later they will leave exhausted yet also refreshed! It’s time, once again, for Woodland Pattern’s day-long celebration of poetry and performance! Indulge in 15 hours of literary revelry and join us for Woodland Pattern’s Annual Poetry Marathon. This is a perfect opportunity for those new to poetry or new to Woodland Pattern to experience both. Where else could you witness 150 unique written works, read and performed by a unique individual every 5 minutes for 15 hours straight? Perform! Attend!

JAN.27, 10:00AM – JAN. 28, 1:00AM.
The Poetry Marathon is a community fundraiser where readers find sponsors to pledge on their behalf. Reader’s secure a minimum $35 pledge to read at a programmed time. The event is open to the public with a $10 cover charge. This cover includes a wristband that will allow you to enter or leave, throughout the day, as you wish. Individuals who sponsor a reader for $35 or more, will receive a complimentary wristband. As years past, the Marathon will provide valuable sustenance for the readers and audience members, refreshed throughout the day, and generously donated by local businesses and organizations.

POETRY MARATHON IS A FUNDRAISING EVENT! All of the money raised supports Woodland Pattern’s 2018 programming in literature and the arts. It will allow Woodland Pattern to continue to program 320+ unique readings, classes and workshops, exhibitions and screenings, community activities and events, highlighting and celebrating locally and nationally known artists and writers, and supporting and encouraging creativity within the community, throughout the calendar year (including this Poetry Marathon). It also guarantees the book store’s lights will stay on and the doors open, preserving this much valued meeting place within the community (12,000+ individuals/year through the doors) while ensuring access to Woodland Pattern’s nationally recognized collection!
Help Woodland Pattern celebrate the 2018 Annual Poetry Marathon by signing up to read, helping sponsor an hour, and by attending and enjoying! See you then!
• For additional information or to sign up as a reader, call us at 414-263-5001, stop by the book center at 720 E. Locust Street, Milwaukee WI 53212 or find more information on our website at www.woodlandpattern.org.
• Deadline for reader sign-up is Friday, January 19th.
• Or to underwrite an hour of the Marathon contact Michael Wendt at *protected email*
• Further, there are many poets for whom the cost of reading in the marathon may be prohibitive. If you’d like to help these readers, consider a “pledge a reader” donation. Money received through these donations will go directly to a poet who is unable to meet the $35 minimum pledge goal. You support Woodland Pattern AND a local artist – win-win!

ABOUT WOODLAND PATTERN
Woodland Pattern Book Center was founded as a non-profit organization in Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Riverwest neighborhood by Anne Kingsbury and Karl Gartung in 1979. The name “Woodland Pattern” was chosen from a passage in Paul Metcalf’s Apalache: “South of Lake Superior, a culture center, the Woodland Pattern, with pottery but without agriculture…” Thanks to the hard work and sustained effort of volunteers, Woodland Pattern became a nationally recognized cultural hub, and the staff is still working hard to uphold this vitality.
The Center houses a bookstore with over 25,000 small press titles otherwise unavailable in our area. Because we are nonprofit, our inventory decisions aren’t dictated by commercialism. We hope to act as a catalyst, putting readers together with small press literature.
Photos of the present show in our art gallery accompany this article as well as past participant photos in the Marathon.
We are a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization.
The Riverwest Currents is proud to sponsor an hour of this year’s Poetry Marathon.
It is an event not to be missed. Stay as long as you like!